Driving Digital Change: Several States Have Taken Steps to Make Adopting Digital Content Easier for Schools. Not All Have Been Entirely Successful Yet, but Their Early Mistakes Can Be Guideposts for Others Considering the Same Thing

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DOES STATE POLICY really cause change in a school district? This may seem like a silly question--of course it does. If the state passes a law requiring students to have 24 credits to graduate, school districts must comply, and students do not graduate without 24 credits. Case closed. But what happens when the policy's wording uses "may" instead of "shall," allowing, but not requiring, change? Do school districts take advantage of the opportunity Provided by the "may" language, especially when it encourages innovation? As one might expect it all depends, but it depends as much on the implementation of the policy by the state as it does on the district's choice. Approximately a dozen states across the country, both adoption and non-adoption (or open territory) states, have changed laws or provided significant initiatives to encourage digital content. In some states--Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana, and Georgia--new policy has changed the definition of a textbook to include digital content, and to allow textbook funds to be used to purchase technology. Other states--California, Maryland, and Maine--have undertaken significant efforts with open educational resources (OER), which are free or low-cost materials licensed under a Creative Commons agreement that allows the materials to be reused, revised, remixed, and re-distributed. While the policy changes in many of these states are very recent, making it too early to assess the quantity or quality of change, Texas, California, Virginia, and Indiana all have a few years under their belts since implementing their changes. Each of these states' changes has been previously chronicled in T.H.E. Journal In short: * The Texas legislature passed a bill in 2009 creating a commissioner's list for digital content and allowed some textbook funds to be used to purchase technology. It also passed a bill allowing the state to create OER, either through a contract or through materials created by certain institutions of higher education. This summer, Texas passed additional legislation that further modifies the textbook adoption process. Most notably it creates an instructional materials fund for districts (combining a textbook fund and technology allotment) to be used to purchase content, technology, professional development, and technical support. * The Virginia Department of Education called for the creation of an OER supplemental physics book to address rapidly changing areas of the field. * Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger implemented the Digital Textbook Initiative that called for submissions of free, OER textbooks in secondary science. * The Indiana State Board of Education changed the definition of textbook to include digital content and to allow textbook funds to be used to purchase technology. The Indiana Legislature has since codified these changes and changed the vetting process for textbooks to allow local school corporations greater control and choice. Drivers of Change The impetus for change in these states each came from different policymakers, but a common driver for the changes was a more flexible use of funds in a very tight economic climate. A second, related driver was increased efficiency. Testimony in legislative hearings in Texas from school district technology and textbook coordinators indicated that thousands of books are sitting in warehouses still shrink-wrapped on pallets. This obvious misappropriation of state funds persuaded Texas legislators to provide greater flexibility to educators regarding textbooks and technology. A third driver of change was the desire to tap into technology to create more engaging materials. This was particularly true in Indiana, where the State Board of Education sent a letter to school districts saying that the social studies textbooks submitted for adoption in October 2008 "... do not provide content that is interesting, engaging and supportive of effective learning. …